{"id":345534,"date":"2026-03-24T15:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/345534\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T15:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:37:07","slug":"why-is-california-seeing-so-many-meteorite-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/345534\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is California seeing so many meteorite strikes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                        <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/657018_065552_updates.jpg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"686\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" alt=\"Why is California seeing so many meteorite strikes?\"\/>Why is California seeing so many meteorite strikes?<\/p>\n<p>California\u2019s skies are observing more cosmic activity than usual. On Sunday, March 23, a bright green fireball streaked over Northern California.<\/p>\n<p>This marks the third major meteor event witnessed in the region in just six days, leaving residents in awe. <\/p>\n<p>The latest event, recorded on camera, prompted over 200 reports to the American Meteor Society (AMS) from witnesses across California, Nevada, and Arizona. <\/p>\n<p>Earlier, similar sighting was recorded in Ohio and Texas, where a meteorite reportedly punched a hole through a house. <\/p>\n<p>Despite the cluster of events, scientists weigh in that these fireballs are likely a coincidence instead of a connected cosmic activity. <\/p>\n<p>Mike Hanker, operations manager of AMS, stated: \u201cTypically, they would be considered random events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the question remains what\u2019s causing the repeated strikes. <\/p>\n<p>As reported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the meteors are bits of rock and ice ejected from asteroids or comets that orbit the sun. <\/p>\n<p>When earth passes through the debris fields, especially during periods of increased activity (in February and March), these fragments enter the atmosphere at staggering speeds, sometimes exceeding 35,000 mph. <\/p>\n<p>Due to intense friction with the atmosphere, these rocks heat up and create brilliant fireballs just like the one observed in California. <\/p>\n<p>The recently observed meteor travelled 58 miles before disintegrating roughly 29 miles above Colfax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why is California seeing so many meteorite strikes? California\u2019s skies are observing more cosmic activity than usual. On&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-345534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}